broken alliances
by drowning dark silver gold
Summary: Aragorns long dead, no alliance between elves, Aaron and his sister try to make a difference... maybe they should of stayed home.


DISCLAIMER: You guys know the drill right? I don't own them, pity. Anyways enjoy.  
  
Chappy1: fallenalliance.  
  
Five men sat in the room, that one with only one window and a table laden with dust. The one that was only used in minor crisis situations, ones that were to big to handle out in the open, in a dining hall or an office. No, this room was made for situations that the peasants weren't meant to hear about.  
  
Maybe you haven't heard about this room? I can't blame you, no one but the five men, the king himself, and my eldest son know of it. But neither the king nor my son know of the topics discussed, so you can't be blamed for not knowing. I wasn't meant to be there, but I was, to be found was death, to live was to run. Not may choices really. Choices were what buzzed in my head as the men sat quietly all in thought and I hovered above head in a rafter.  
  
"Why?"  
  
The sudden word shocked me almost causing me to fall from my post.  
  
'Why are we here?'  
  
It was a young man, new to the table of five as I had been told. I settled on the musky smelling rafter for a long session.  
  
'We are here to discuss an ancient long problem.' Sighed an old man with a beard as long as my leg. And I was pretty tall. 'The elves.' Good, I was in the right place. The men shifted.  
  
'What about them?' asked the young man, 'they are not our allies, why should we care about them? It has been thousands of years since they moved to the undying lands, why should we care now?'  
  
'I have heard rumours that they poisoned their old land, so no man could use it,' offered a middle age man.  
  
'Rumours are nothing!' exclaimed the young man.  
  
'But facts are,' the attention of the group headed over to another late middle aged man, 'They wish to meet with our king, we all know the king's blood is not pure, it has been muddled with since Aragorn the ranger. We now have no true king, I fear they will attack while we have no true ruler.'  
  
'Then tell the king,' offered the young man in an annoyed voice.  
  
'We cannot Saverlon,' sighed the old man 'for he would panic, he is nothing but a crowd pleaser. We have not have alliance with the elves for centuries, we do not know if they will ally with us again, it is likely for them to poisoned the land, the main spots are the old Rivendel, and Lothlorine.' I smiled to myself; nice to hear my work was noticed.  
  
'There has been reports of elves in middle earth, maybe they were sent by others maybe they weren't but..."  
  
'So we can't trust them anymore,' the young one stood in his spot, 'who knows what these years have done to them? I say if there are any, they should be killed!' a cheer rose for him from the others but the old man. 'I say send the order out! Any elves are to be killed! Trust none!' another cheer and the men hurried out with the news, no one would question them, people had wanted to go to war with elves for a long age now. I watched as the old man and the young man stayed in the room, the young one still standing. 'You see old man,' he sighed 'you're getting old,' the older man shifted uncomfortably, 'you are no use, I have found better men for this table,' The young one was walking slowly towards the man, I tensed my bow slightly. 'And you were always against me,' he laughed bitterly. 'And I still am,' hissed and old one, 'Tsk, tsk, tsk, don't used that voice with me." He shook his finger as his other hand went to the hilt of his sword. Twang The young murder fell to his knees, a thin silver gleaming arrow pieced his back in a downward angle. He fell forward, blood trickling from his mouth, got him right in the lung! The old man watched with out expression. Then he looked up to me in my rafter, I covered my pointed ears with my hands. He gasped and sat deadly still, I mean that literally. I starred back at him for a while, he seemed to go hollow. I dropped from my perch, slowly heading over to the old man I felt for a pulse, nothing. Shaking my head I said a small prayer to the Valar, poor bloke.  
  
"PaPa?" I shivered as the young voice sailed into the room, "Papa! Guess what!! There are elves in middle earth! Can we meet one?! I heard there very pretty!" I sunk into the shadows as a little girl ran in. "Can we... Papa?" she looked at his still face, "Papa are you sleeping?" she waved a hand in his face. Then turned to see Saverlon dead on the floor. She let out a blistering scream, and footsteps came rushing to the room. In a swift movement I plucked the arrow from the dead man and jumped to the rafters, disappearing in a hole in the roof. I couldn't have been more stupid, leave the girl to live? She had seen me full well! As I hurried out I heard the young girl give a weeping squeak. "Elf," Yes I thought to myself, as I hurried out of the city Elf.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Get up yer' lazy slobs!"  
  
A weasel like voice barked at Aaron. The young man forced himself out of bed, another day, work to do. 'Stupid farm,' he hissed pushing his dark hair from his face.  
  
'What d' ya say?!' hissed a fat, not completely sober man.  
  
'Nothing,' Aaron sighed, looking at his hands, they weren't farmer's hands, they were blacksmiths. Aaron looked about the three-roomed house, one room for sleeping, one for dining, story telling ect, and one for cooking. He glanced at his sisters sleeping beside him as his pulled on his vest for the cool winter, his thick skin, the hard labour and the hot sun would keep his arms warm, deciding not to take the chance of the cool he slipped on another shirt. As he did a piece of thin blood red material fell to the floor, Aaron picked it up pocketed it. He glanced down at his sisters he had been sleeping next to. One was his true sister with dark features and light skin like his, with light brown and blonde hair, the other was his stepsister who had olive skin and dark hair. His stepsister had a pillow over her face and was curled on her side. Sharpening his eyes on a necklace around his older sisters neck he pulled of a silver chain. The teenager woke as he was examining it. She rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly. "You stole this from Farer didn't you?' he accused her, Farer was their step father, and Aaron's youngest sisters real father. 'You little weasel' he scoffed pocketing the chain.  
  
"Eagles may fly high but weasels don't get shot with stray arrows.' Aaron gave his sister a kick in the side,  
  
'Gettup, Ferer and I are hungry.' He pulled up his sister.  
  
'Where's mum?'  
  
'Market,' Aaron's sister yawned again.  
  
'Cooking isn't my job,' she sighed, again rubbing her eyes and glancing at her hiccuping step father sitting at the table, knife and fork in hand.  
  
'When mother isn't here it is.' Giving up his sister sighed and took the curfew of the fire. She worked in town as a waitress/bar tender at a wealthy inn. She helped pay the taxes and money for material, Aaron himself worked with Ferer on the land to support the food and wood stock, and their mother did all the housework with his stepsister Case. 'Thanks Ale,' he said giving her a rough hug, she smelt like vanilla, she always did, just like father had. Aaron handed her the strap of material, Ale tied it around her head to cover one eye. It was hard to say when people asked about that material. Ale was considered legally blind but was really only half blind. And in that 'blind' was only a huge black spot. So considered blind, she wasn't. Plus it made her more interesting for the blokes at the inn. More likely to order something, good business.  
  
Some thing inside Aaron tingled; he turned to face the door as his mother burst in.  
  
'Hello Aaron, Ale,"  
  
'Morning mother,' Ale hugged her mother.  
  
'Aaron, there's rumour of a werewolf about, keep a sharp eye would you?' Aaron nodded and headed outside into the cool air, he suddenly became glad he had his extra shirt on. He had forgotten how quickly the winter cold could creep up. He gazed across the fields at the bare trees, picking out which ones he would use for fire wood, and ones for charcoal, Ale had heard word that charcoal help more nutrients in the soil and that it helped for a healthier crop, she had begged Aaron to try it out saying that every body in town was talking about it, so he had cut off a third of the crop for charcoal soil. His eyes wondered to the trees in the north, it was a thick forest with a winding path though the middle to town. A man and cart were coming through lead by a great stallion.  
  
'Good day sir!' cried Aaron the man pulled up his cart.  
  
'Yes it is a fine day,' he commented looking at the clear sky. 'Have you heard? They say there's a were wolf about.' Aaron nodded, There had been a huge increase in were wolves since the last 20 years, there was a cure for it, though it took a few years depending on you're health. Ale herself had been bitten once and was covered in a thin golden hair for a month until the herbal cure was given to her, and it disappeared in a matter of weeks. Case had been bitten a few weeks ago and still showed the signs, she had a thick grey coat, white tipped ears, which had improved her hearing, longer canines, her ribs were more triangular and a fussy tail poked from her dress. That's why there mother had left so early, many had been bitten lately, the man that have found the cure was getting rich. And if you wanted to skip the line it would mean getting up early, really early considering it was a 2 hour walk to town. But even though there was a cure, if you had any signs of a werewolf you were considered dangerous and could be shot if you even looked like you were going to bite someone.  
  
'Though surely anyone bitten can't be that bad.' Offered Aaron.  
  
'Aei, that is true, but there is more troubling things at this point,' Aaron crossed his arms.  
  
'What might that be?'  
  
'I don't think it be best I tell ya,' the man said shaking his head, 'must get home to me wife. Ale came out with two steaming bowls of porridge, she handed one to Aaron.  
  
'Morning sir,' she chirped quietly.  
  
'Tell you what,' the man said in a different tone eyeing the breakfast. 'Share me some of that and I'll tell ya what me ears have heard.' Aaron smiled, typical. 'Deal,' he nodded to Ale to give her porridge to the man. Aaron glared at her and she gave the bowl up. 'Ah, thank you lass.' Ale snorted as she watched him eat her breakfast.  
  
The man jumped down from his seat and sat on the soft grass, Aaron followed suit and Ale sat without taking her eyes off Aaron's bowl, maybe he'd leave some for her...  
  
'We'll I heard people saying that there are elves about,' Ale rolled her eyes, after receiving a sharp poke in the ribs from her brother she headed back inside.  
  
'Elves have been around here for ages,' Aaron pointed out, ' so what if you've seen one? Since we declared war they've been wanting their land back.'  
  
'Aei again young sir, but these ones have been seen very close to the village, they even caught one! They say we might be in for an attack,' Aaron snorted.  
  
'And that be why you're leaving? Afraid of a elf?' The man opened his mouth to argue, and then closed it again.  
  
'You may call me a coward if they do not, but don't call me a fool,'  
  
with that he left the bowl on the ground and jumped back into his seat.  
  
'Good day,' he muttered as he rode off. As soon as he was on his way Ale came out to examine the bowl, to her disappointment it was empty.  
  
'Put some clothes on and go to work,' Aaron ordered as he stood and stretched, 'get something to eat for lunch.'  
  
'But I'm hungry now,' whined Ale examining Aaron's bowl and picking out a piece of chopped fruit he had missed. Aaron shrugged, and picked up his tools.  
  
'You'll be more hungry if you don't work for your keep, now get,'  
  
*%*  
  
Ale jotted down notes from the notice board, why her mother hadn't done it herself she had no idea. The price for the herbal curse for werewolf bites had increased, Mr Allvine was selling meat chickens, and an elf had been captured. Though that didn't really need to be on the notice board, every one was talking about it. Ale sighed; it would be torture, questioning, and most likely death for the poor elf. Men didn't think kindly of them. Children were crowding a building, probably trying to get a look at the elf. The old Grey mare at Ale's heals nickered. She rubbed her snout warmly and tied the beast near a drinking warm looking inn. Most likely the best inn in there part of the south, they even had a hobbit working there. As Ale walked in she was greeted by Alfas, the innkeeper. She nodded and went round the back to find her uniform. Ale loved the place, men were always polite, never fought, and sometimes she could sit down and listen to a story or a poem written by the men. This was a place of the wealthy, Ale had once been wealthy, they lost it all twelve years ago when she was five, now seventeen, she was poor, living in a farm with a horse older than her, but this place was her dream, she would never leave it, even if she was just a waitress. Plus the tips were good.  
  
As the day passed Ale worked with her fellow waiters and waitresses, Aaron chopped wood while Case and her mother cleaned the house. A normal day for anyone, so the overhead clouds came unnoticed, the quick setting of the sun, and the blood red horizon were uncounted for. Until Ale had to go home.  
  
Ale shivered as she untied her mare, she seemed unsettled and distressed. 'Yeah, we're going home layep,' she said soothingly to the horse, 'we're going home,' As she lead the horse though the town she stopped to look in the window of the building the children had been inspecting before. Through the window she could see the back of someone tied to a chair. Sleeping, no doubt if they wanted to torture they'd wait for him to awake. She shivered uncomfortably; her mother had always taught her that kind of thing was wrong. Glancing around the room she noticed a man sitting asleep in a chair, a beer keg at his side. Ale gave a small chuckle, how ferocious! She glanced around, the windows of houses glowed warmly, and everyone would be inside from the winter chill. Ale wanted a better look so she headed around the back leaving Layep by herself. Not to her surprise the back door was locked, poor fools, the window was, but the window had a crack. Pulling out a small knife Ale used for protection she cut along the crack to make a hole and levered it out to her. She slipped her hand though and unlocked the door, to easy. She slipped in and glanced around, it was freezing cold in the hut and it smelt of nothing pleasant. She looked at the figure tied to the chair. She lent forward cautiously.  
  
The sudden smell of vanilla in the putrid place was what woke me. It was so pleasant compared to the stench of the gaoler. I would have opened his eyes if they hadn't been so swollen. Instead I had to rely on my ears for help, the scent seemed more distant now, yet it was familiar. A prodding sound came from the wall. Forcing my bruised eyes open I saw a teenage girl poking the gaoler. He gave a grunt but didn't wake. She pretended to turn but whipped back around quickly. "Whoa!" she shouted in his face, after a few seconds he reacted with another grunt. I closed my eyes again, and listened instead of watching, the pain of keeping my eye's open to unbearable, I couldn't even remember how they had got that way. The teenager gave the gaoler a curious sniff, I opened my eyes again, the girl was backing off from the gaoler forcing herself not to sneeze. After the repulsive smell had been lifted from her nostrils did she realize the I was awake. She starred blankly at me for a minute, wondering if she should run. Then she crouched on her knees so I could see her better. Fool.  
  
'Hi,' she said softly. The gaoler gave a snort and she jumped to her feet in fright. Unable to put up with the sight of the foolish child I closed my eyes with a groan. I gave up and let my head hang loose again. I didn't really care for this life anymore. As long as Beltan, my son, was safe.  
  
'But what? Do we do it here? And when? If we do we could make quite a show of it. Nobodies killed an elf for years.'  
  
'Shite' the girl cursed as she heard the men talking and hid behind the door. I smiled to myself.  
  
'It would attract more people I guess.' Another voice offered as the door was pushed open. Two men walked in, to the girl's relief they didn't notice her and she gave a slight sigh of relief. Of course the men didn't hear, they were to busy bickering about tourists attractions. I craned my head up with effort, my neck bones cracked a little, I watched as the girl took the opportunity and slipped out the door. I glanced up at the men's hard eyes, nothing but cruelty, no wonder they had declared war upon us...  
  
Not daring to go any further Ale jumped on her horse and trotted of until she reach the man road. Layep couldn't do much more than a walk because of her age. That suited Ale fine, time to ponder over the elf, what would happen to him, and with greater concern, what she could do with today's tips? 


End file.
